This is a broadcast message from the HempenRoad film project, a travel-documentary film about hemp in the Pacific NW. #10 in a series.

Greetings: Just a short note to let you know the the HempenRoad Winter tour is starting to come together. To start things off, check it out at the Midnight Sun in downtown Olympia WA on Friday Nov. 21st at 8:00pm.

The film does feature some Oly-local hemp action and music too (hey, maybe you can see yourself!). Not only the film, but also Live Music and tasty beverages (Mmmm hemp java). Presented with our friends at “aXis Music & Media Dispatch” and “MooreHempCo.” 2 bux gets you in.

We are working on other dates in Oregon, Utah, BC, Wyoming, California and everywhere else. Any ideas? Let us know and be sure to stay tuned in this channel for the scoop. Can’t wait til it rolls into town? Check out http://www.hempenroad.com to score a video copy.

****In other HempenNews

The voters of Washington State rejected ballot initiative #685 which would’ve permitted medicinal use of schedule1 controlled drugs. Further, HIP-WS #147 is in hibernation until next round too. See http://www.hemp.net for more info.

While a setback, this does set the stage for a more focused hemp bill, and an election victory, next year I do believe.

California’s Hemptech released a fine new book called Hemp Horizons by John Roulac. Besides being a very well produced and written book, it also features some of my Hemp in Japan research. Check it at: http://www.hemptech.com

This is your virtual invitation to check out the sneak Premiere of the HempenRoad film.

The date is Tuesday, June 10th, at the infamous Evergreen State College, Olympia Washington. That is soon, so think fast.

The HempenRoad will be thrown out to the public as part of the Cascadin’ Film Festival. The event is promoted by the International Students Association and features an eclectic selection of experimental films, digital animation, Chinese opera and Indian dances.

Also serving up Hemp N’ Java Expresso and tasty hempenfood by Blue Heron Bakery. Live music follows and plenty time to kick back with a bunch of phun folks.

You can link to maps to Evergreen and pictures of the LongHouse where we will screen the films etc. For travel & ferry info, shoot mail to “uncleweed@olywa.net”

If you can make it, great, if not, there’s plenty of chances later this summer at Seattle Hempfest etc. Heck, this is even the first time I’ll see it.

This is a broadcast message from the Hempen Road film project, travel-documentary on the commercial hemp industry.

We’ve returned from Vancouver where we participated in the Commericial Industrial Hemp Symposium as the exclusive documenters of this landmark event. The Wiseman Noble production staff did a fine job of maintaining the delicate balance throughout the two days of science, agriculture, fashion and commerce. Look for exclusive clips of the symposium speakers and trade show in the Hempen Road film, coming soon.

In the meantime please visit: “www.hempenroad.com” to see clips and comments from the event in the on-line production journal.

On the trade show, we had a chance to speak with Mari Kane, editor and publisher of Hemp World magazine & Hemp Pages. Also filmed a great paper-making demo by Mosse of Greenman Paper. He showed the process, from raw fiber to finished product, in a 10′ by 10′ booth.

The Hempen Road film project is going into the editing phase using a Mac O/s pc with a 9 gigabyte drive. We capture images by 16mm & Super8 film and Hi8 video, 35mm camera as well as scanned images. The images are then edited entirely digitally which gives us great freedom. The downside is memory, there is never enough power. This technology allows us to make a film that wouldn’t have been possible financially or content-wise, even a year ago. This makes us smile.

Another note, Eugene, Oregon’s police force has raided the headquarters of Hungry Bear Hemp Foods and seized business computers, equipment, art & supplies. Hungry Bear, Todd Dalotto was not arrested or charged. Police also confiscated quantity of cannabis flowers found on premises. Police noted that, “you have to watch these hemp stores popping up everywhere.” Show your support for Todd and eat a Seedy Sweetie snack and go for a hike.

Hello All;
This is a broadcast e.mail from the Hempen Road film. Fourth in a series.

New Film Pictures on the WWW.

Grab a peek at the all-new Hempen Road Web Site. On-line journals, film pictures, media releases, mailing lists, its all there. Fine new maps, graphics and no spelling errors :{__~

See the debut Clip in Vancouver.

Come check out the Sneak Preview in Van! A 15 minute clip featuring Victoria will debut at the CIHS Feb 18-19. Check us out and get a postcard from the Hempen Road.

The Hempen Road film crew will also document this landmark event and include exclusiveclips of the many fine speakers and panels including some Canadian hemp farmers. International researchers a packed trade show floor too.

Be there or . . . This event will also be cyber-cast via RealAudio. For more info the Vancouver Commercial Hemp Symposium visitwww.wisenoble.com or contactevents@wisenoble.com.
or catch it down the Hempen Road . . .

New Folks on Board

We’ve picked up a few hitchhikers along the Hempen Road.
Robert Lunday became our Exec. Producer. His skills in business, numbers & technology will make us a stronger tripod.

Ben Livingston is a graphic artist, writer and activist who will be helping with WWW duties so hold on to your mouse. . .
Robert and Ben can both be reached through Hemp.Net.
also visit Ben’s teenage poetics at Oblivion.Net.

Hold on California

We’ve had plenty gracious invitations to journey down to California which we hope to do soon. Especially since NW is well. . .damp. We’ve decided to wait a couple months and finish editing the Cascadia footage and head down with more time and bigger budget to do a top-notch shoot. So hang out and we’ll keep in touch.
Maybe we’ll meet in Vancouver too.

Thanks for reading and feel free to contact me with any questions, concerns, comments.

This is a broadcast e.mail update on the production of The Hempen Road Film Project.

More complete info is available at the Giggling Piglet Durable Goods Co-Op WWW page. Take a few minutes to check it out. Enjoy.

The Hempen Road is a documentary film about the contemporary commercial uses of industrial hemp and is currently in production along the west coast of North America.

Last message told of our succesful filming journey to Victoria, B.C., since then we’ve made it up to Seattle and down to Eugene for good times and great footage.

In Seattle we met with David and David of Earth Goods in their Beemis building loft (BTW what is it with guys named dave in the hemp biz? go figure).

Then Rob Jungman of Manastash, first at the store, then took a visit to the factory to talk with the garment workers.

Next we visited Cory at the Fremont Hemp Co.in Fremont, center of the universe (wait I thought that was Moab?)

After that, we visited the whole gang of folks at Universial Hemp’s new Belltown Hempery. We strolled down to Pike Place market with hemp info and cameras in tow and explored all around the waterfront for some nice shots of a nice looking harbor.

Next up was Eugene. We stayed in a great Yurt hut in Florence (famous for sand) on the way down.

We pulled into Living Seed Oil Company the next morning to meet Hungry Bear Todd Dolatto and his colleagues who are collectively doing some interesting work with oils and foods.

Next day I took a break as some dreadful virus reared its vengence in my guts.

The intrepid crew carried on with help from a friend and talked with hemp vendors at the public market then on to meet Carolyn & Harry of Living Tree Paper and Talking Leaves magazine.

Bruce at Sow Much Hemp filled up the rest of the afternoon and later he and Deidre got me feeling healthy again.

Due to the storm that spanked us hard, we missed Portland on NYE for the OCTA fundraiser gig but we’ll make it down next weekend to catch up with some more Oregon industrialists.

After that Bellingham, Wa for textiles, sweaters and snowboarding. Then off to the promised land, Vancouver.

Well, all for now, more info on the web page.

Hey, hope you all made it out alright through this storm. It was cold, wet, miserable and dark. Think nature is telling us something?

This is a broadcast e.mail coming to you from The Hempen-Road Film Project.

For those not familiar with this film, let me explain. Starting a few weeks ago, myself, Dave Olson, filmaker Eiji Masuda and crew set out to make a film about the people, places and products of the comtemporary commercial hemp industry.

The response has been remarkable and we thank all of you who have expressed interest to talk with us and enthusiasm for our plans. We look forward to showing the finished product to you.

We recently returned from a succesful filming journey to Victoria, B.C. and are now readying for Washington, Oregon and then on to California.

So far the film is looking great. Interesting,intelligent people, great information, positive energy and lots of quality hemp goods.

This film will be available for distribution next spring and hopefully we’ll have it finished in time for the Vancouver Commercial Hemp Symposium in Feb.1997 which looks to be a very professional, exciting event.

May we suggest taking a few minutes and checking out all the low-down including a report on our Victoria journey on the Hempen Road web site. Just follow the signs and enjoy looking it over.

Please pay special attention to the part about Investment Opportunities with in the film project page. We are offering a one-third share of the project as an investment. This promises to be a film of exceptional quality, uniqueness and impact.

While at the web page, take a few to peruse through my Hemp in Japan research and art gallery. Enjoy Knowledge.

My name is is Dave Olson, I run an international mail-order hemperprise as well as research and produce other creative projects about hemp.

This month Japanese filmmaker, Eiji Masuda, and I will be heading to create a completely new hemp film in which we will travel the north america west coast stopping in along the way to visit hempy people.

All this is explained on a web page that we invite you visit and read through. We feel this is an exciting project that merits your looking it over.

If you are unable to access the WWW, please reply and i’ll send you the info via e.mail or post.

While there, be sure to link to look at my ongoing research into Hemp in Japan. Much research is there along with a bunch of pictures. Sit down and enjoy it.

This is not a mailing list or anything weird or sketchy. Please zoom over to check out our plan and respond via phone, e.mail, fax or post to become part of this film.

Hemp is a plant. Hempen culture is forever ingrained in our culture and yet we know so little about it yet all around the world the hardy strains of cannabis sativa have provided the essentials for civilizations.

The HempenRoad takes us to the Pacific Northwest, a rugged stretch of continent – like many areas the communities here try to balance economics and ecology were off to find is hemp really sustainable, durable and like many regions long dependence on natural resources have left behind battered eco-systems.

Hemp is a plant. Like many plants, cannabis sativa, comes in many varieties. Each type having unique characteristics and uses. People have cultivated and used different strains of Cannabis for thousands of years. Indeed, some say hemp was one reason humans gave up hunting and gathering instead settling down and farming, soon forming communities and history as we know it.

For cultures worldwide, hemp provided the essentials, food, shelter, clothing. As time went on, hemp was turned into , oils, ropes, paper, medicines and sails Providing a renewable resource for a growing civilizations. This plant is forever ingrained in our heritage yet we know so little about it . Somewhere along the way, hemp farming and information “disappeared” as the world entered a new industrial age. Cheap crude oil, old-growth forests, processed foods, patented medicines & synthetic cloth replaced clean growing hemp. How did this happen? Now, the global community faces the filthy legacy of this misguided prohibition. We now realize the world’s environment, economy and health isn’t really divided by lines on a map. A problem elsewhere might well be cased by a situation somewhere else. It is all the same planet after all. All around the world, people are again looking to hemp as a viable sustainable crop, capable of slowing this pollution and replenishing the earth. Is this possible? Is hemp really that strong, that versatile and ecological?

As we stand on the edge of our future, we have to re-examine the way we do things, all things, and make intelligent decisions based on truth , not hype. What will it take to bring hemp back into the global economy? Where can it grow? What can hemp really produce? Some people aren’t waiting for answers, they are leaping into action and finding their own reality. Searching for a new way of doing things. Who are they are these people what motivates them to work so hard against the preconceptions? It is just a plant, just a especially remarkable one. But what exactly is hemp? Well, we ‘re on the road to find out. The Hempen Road It’s more of a path in thinking but a concrete road in our highway reality. Highways now run through area that was only trees, water and rock less than a century and a half ago. It doesn’t take long.

On the Dock:

Here we are in Port Angeles WA the top of the Olympic Peninsula. Its a pulp town and this is where a lot of This is the great northwest coast of the Pacific Ocean, Cascadia bioregion. A rugged and majestic stretch of continent. Temperate rainforest, salmon rivers, volcanoes, rain, islands and ocean. Nature feels real and tangible here. Long dependence on natural resources for economic growth has resulted in rivers and forests that once seemed so abundant, now fading into massive clearcuts, polluted waters, damaged ecosystems. This area is historically populated with adventurers, explorers, thinkers. Individuals finding common ground. People here are outdoorsy folks, but thats not enough. To preserve a healthy planet, decisions must be made. This area, like many, struggles to balance sustainability and economy. prosperity and extinction. There must be answers, but what the questions ? Can cleaner industries like tourism, organic agriculture, alternative fibers production and processing support this bioregion? Where does hemp fit into all this?

On the ferry: (voice over)

On ocean going vessels all throughout history, ropes have often been made out of hemp. just up until the end of WW2, when uhh substitutes started being used. the hemp for victory campaign put on by the US Dept of Agriculture during the uhh mid war years ww2 was uhh pretty much to replace the ropes on navy ships with hemp.

Victoria:

Victoria is famous for looking nice and being a nice place to be. It is a nice place to be. flowers, animals, good air and food. this is worth something and people here realize it. Victoria is also the capital city of British Columbia so it sees a lot of political action too. The last few years, the wholesale clearcutting of several of the few remaining ancient rainforests has sparked Vancouver Island and the whole of Canada into a struggle to find a solution to an urgent problem. People here have had to become quite creative in their activism. Many realize there is no time to delay. Gone means gone forever. In the wake of this situation, hemp has moved to the forefront of solutions. Since 1994, fields of hemp grew on Canadian soil. There is still plenty of research to be done but that is just a matter of time. Laws are starting to change and the populous is awaking to address this issue and decide the fate of their island and perhaps provide a working model of sustainability to the world.

Yurt:

This structure is a yurt. Functional, secure, comfortable housing. It looks like something in between Genghis Khan’s Mongolian hut and something from a Dr.Suess book. This particular yurt is covered by a poly/cotton/nylon blend canvas but it could be covered with the true hemp cannabis canvas to provide inexpensive, movable living and work space almost anywhere in the world. This particular yurt is in a state park near sand dunes on the rolling Oregon coast.

Eugene:

So on we go, driving past borders, forests and clearcuts, rocks and water. Pulling west, we head towards the open coast. Then, turning south, we cross a long bridge across the delta of the mighty Columbia River, watching as it collides with the immensity of ocean.

The Oregon Coast and hills are known for being a haven for free-thinkers, travellers, homesteaders, artists and writers. Certainly with Eugene’s reputation of being a think-tank for alternative action, hemp must be going on in some neat way.

Around Eugene, the fertile Williamette Valley once produced abundant crops of flax and but this is no small town anymore, Cottage industries have re-adjusted to sustain themselves against the onslaught of big corporations. Hempsters here have found ways to involve their activist goals and organic ideals into new business ideas.

Portland:

Portland is a kind of strange name for a city thats not really a Port, but the early 1990s, it was here that the first shipments of hempen cloth arrived on american shores in almost 50 years. As it goes, after the enthusiastic ww2 hemp for victory campaign, hemp cultivation and tax licenses were just no longer issued by many governments. Hempen agriculture faded away under an avalanche of postwar industry, slick new products and a barrage government disinformation.

As powerful governments spread their political and financial influence beyond national borders, Hemp growth was eradicated from many, then most countries in the western-influenced world. Like In the US, trade was halted, all strains were banned and declared A harmful narcotic. In the past decade, West coast activists and researchers pried open files, films, rumors and fields to discover this missing chapter of world history. As the cold war stumbled, global citizens opened up new channels of information & trade, importing hemp fibers and cloth from formerly distant, closed lands and developing exchange with Eastern Europe, South and Central Asia and from the cradle of hemp, China. From China, the first load of hemp cloth and fiber arrived in Portland creating an unparalleled opportunity for economies, artists and the environment. But first, some laws have to change and this takes a lot of work.

Olympia:

Folks from a variety of backgrounds realize that current cannabis restrictions are misguided and unjust. Many people face difficult questions like “when a loved one is sick, shouldn’t they have the medicine they need?” Well, it seems so but in most places, the authorities routinely arrest and imprison patients, treating the terminally ill like criminals.

Yet, before the over-proliferation of costly patented medicines and synthetic drugs, cannabis was a common ingredient in the world’s pharmacology. Even Queen Victoria used weed to soothe her ailing cramps. Well, in some states, compassion and common sense are winning as voters have empowered doctors to act in the best interest of their patients and prescribe cannabis as needed. Now, patients afflicted with cancers, glaucoma, HIV & Aids, MS and others ailments can be treated with respect. This is a beginning and a legitimate relief for the thousands of ill people who rely on the soothing, healing properties of this non-toxic herb. making their body, and human rights stronger.

Here in Olympia, people from many walks of life have envisioned what hemp can do for their families and leapt into action. Unlikely citizens running for political office, opening shops, sponsoring local teams, promoting events, challenging the courts, outreaching to the community. After all, if you knew about something that could help the planet and sick people, wouldn’t you tell someone about it?

Internet:

For decades, hemp information was passed on like folk tales and rumors. Later people began educating themselves from a few books, periodicals and leaflets. These days the wide reach and accessibility of the Internet has made legitimate, verifiable facts available around the globe. Further use of the world wide web and email provide an effective means for far-flung activist groups, researchers and businesses to compare notes and strategies, promote projects, publish reports and even make films.

Seattle:

Seattle has grown up from a North-Western outpost known for rain, salmon and airplanes into a big-league home to a unique combination of digital high-tech, adventure sports & rough and real pop culture. Underground is real life here. This juxtaposition creates an ideal location for the dozens of hemp companies & stores based here. Companies that reflect Seattle’s personalities and hemp’s versatility.

Port Townsend:

Rushing towards the future of planet earth, we humans have implemented engineering works & technologies to provide for our perceived energy & consumer needs. Giant dams for power, off-shore oil wells, vast clearcuts for paper pulp, broken promises to the land, to workers, to ourselves. Nuclear reactors too spread across the world under a smokescreen of safety.

Only decades later do we begin to realize the environmental catastrophe of radioactive waste. Is the energy really worth the tradeoff of filthy rivers & barren land. Which really scares you more? Hemp plants or nuclear plants?

Our health and legacy are worth a wise decisions. Certainly the prospect of producing energy and fuel from a renewable robust plant like hemp deserves attention and research. Hemp fuels and oils are working, now. Port Townsend faded after the timber & pulp industry slowed but it again flourishes, this time with a sustainable mix of creative arts, tourism and wooden boats. Hemp fit right in with the local aesthetic and is already a common sight around town.

Vancouver:

Somewhere around here is a line that chops the land into two separate countries and two different sets of rules. There are laws now about free trade between these nations but it doesn’t seem that open to me. These borders are drawn with little regard to bioregions, habitat, or even transport practicalities, aspects worth considering as we define the future trends of industry and trade.

Vancouver is a prosperous city on the vibrant Pacific Rim. Long renowned for it’s fine harbors, clean, safe streets and majestic peaks, in the last decade or so, Vancouver has grown into a international, multi-cultural metropolis, poised to become a positive example to urban centers worldwide.

The cannabis industry is flourishing here, but it’s not industrial hemp that’s growing. In this city alone, there are an estimated 3,000 grow houses producing abundant crops of THC-laden marijuana. Vancouver chooses to handle this with tolerance, education and harm reduction, placing marijuana arrests as a low priority. While Industrial hemp production currently lags behind, retailing and manufacturing of hemp products is taking off as inventive new business hit the market almost daily. In this atmosphere of commerce, tolerance, ecology and optimism, the Commercial and Industrial Hemp Symposium convened to find balance between these aspects and catapult the industry into the next century.